• Jolly Phonics uses sounds to teach children to read and write.
• The children are taught the sounds that letters make. They do not learn the letter names until they know all of the sounds.
For example: at = a....t... Not a (ay) t (tee)
• The sounds are not taught in alphabetical order.
• We begin with the s a t i p n sounds because we can make lots of 2 and 3 letter words with these.
e.g. at it sat tip pin pat
Introduction to Jolly Phonics
• There are 26 letters in the Alphabet but there are 42 sounds
• Some sounds sound the same but are written in different waysE.g. go, toe, know, note, coat
(same sound, different spelling)
• Some sounds look the same but make different soundsE.g. The bow of a ship/ The bow in my hair
(same spelling, different sound)
• Over the next two years (P1-P2) your child will be learning to read and write all of the sounds in the English language
Introduction to Jolly Phonics
In P1 your child will learn the following single sounds:
s a t i p n c k e h r m d g o u l f b j z w v y x
Story, song and action for each sound
Primary 1 Jolly Phonics
e and i For ‘e’ put your chin down. For ‘i’ clench your teeth.Think about sit and set
o and u -For ‘o’ keep your mouth round like the sound.For ‘u’ make your mouth long. Think about cot and cut.
Vowel sounds- difficult for children
Correct pronunciation of the sounds is crucial
f- top teeth need to touch bottom lip, blow breath - NOT fuhl- tongue needs to touch roof of the mouth behind the front teeth - NOT lah- mouth open, puff as if out of breath – NOT huhp- lips together, puff air out – NOT puhn- tongue touches roof of mouth- NOT nath- (voiced: this, that, these) (breath: thick, thin, thieves)
Digraphs (two letters making one sound)
ay oa ie eeor
day coat tie beefor
ng oo oo ch shring book zoo chat
shopth th qu ou oithis thick quit house
coin ue er arcue water car
Digraph songTo the tune of ‘If you’re happy and you
know it’. Change to suit the digraph. This song is
for ‘oa’.
o and a together give us oa,o and a together give us oa,
o and a together,o and a together,
o and a together give us oa
To help children learn the digraphs and to see them in words we use smiley faces for digraph sounds and sound buttons for single sounds.
E.g.
Digraphs
3 single sounds with
sound buttons
1 digraph and 2 single sounds
Reading tips using sounds and digraphs
• Please encourage your child to keep their finger under the words while reading so they can follow the story more accurately.
• In their reading book your child may find some words difficult as they haven’t learnt all the sounds/digraphs yet.
• Let your child use their phonic skills as much as possible and then use the book’s illustrations as a clue.
E.g. Bowl, blue, rain (P2 sounds)
Writing in P1 The children will be learning how to write each letter.
It is very important that they learn how to form the letter correctly.
Correct letter formation will lend itself to learning joined handwriting when your child is in P4.
Most letters end with a tail flick for joining later on e.g.
a u i l d h mn
Using the ‘ee’ sound a child may write the following sentence:
I eet meet when Mummee feeds me.
You should always praise your child’s efforts when writing and also show him/her the way ‘an adult’ would write this sentence.
This means that while the child is using their sounds to write words they are also building their sight vocabulary.
eet- eatmeet- meatmummee- mummy
An example of independent writing in P1
Primary 2 Jolly PhonicsTerm 1•We revise all of the sounds taught in P1•Single sounds s a t i p n etc•Digraph sounds ch sh ay ee ng
•Revision of letter formation
•Revise reading strategies• use of reading finger to point to the words• use of pictures as clues• use of sounding out words• finding Tricky Words
Tricky Words
The Over‐Use of a Phonics StrategyAn over-reliance on decoding words results in a lack of reading fluency.
Tricky Words are taught in P1 and P2. They are words that cannot be ‘sounded out’.
e.g. Try sounding out the= th-ewas= w-a-s
Your child must learn to read and write these words from memory. Daily revision of these is essential.
Primary 2 Jolly PhonicsThe English language in written form is very complicated. 26 letters- 42 sounds.
There can be more than one way of writing a sound. E.g. ee ea y
In P2 your child is learning about the different ways of writing one sound.
Term 2
• The children learn the alternative digraphs.
Alternative Digraph Sounds• oy/oi boy / coin• ou/ow out / now• ee/ea/y sweet/ treat/ mammy • er/ir/ur her / girl / hurt• au/aw autumn / draw• ay/ai/a_e rain / say / name• ie/i_e/igh/y tie / five / right / sky• oa/oe/o_e/ow coat / toe / rope/ row• ue/u_e/ew fuel / cube/ few• ue/ew (oo) blue / flew
Alternative DigraphsThere are stories and actions that go with these sounds too.
These form part of your child’s Literacy homework in Term 2.
Writing in P2By this stage your child has developed their letter formation through sensory experiences such as in the sand, air writing, painting, chalk etc
Now they are writing words and sentences and are learning to size the letters correctly.
We remind the children of letter sizing using the concept of a house: attic, house, cellar
•Learn sounds in sound book
•P1 learn 4 sounds per week
•P2 learn 1 new digraph sound per week
(T2)
•Read Tricky Word strips- Point to the words in a random order! Or make your own
flash cards and use them instead of the word strips.
P1 and P2How can you
help at home?
•Reading books: search for sounds and digraph sounds
•Encourage the use of reading finger when reading at
home.
•Talk about sounds – in names/surnames of people,
places, sign posts etc
•Build words – cut them up and get your child to put
them back together.
•Play ‘Robots’ and talk in sounds e.g. ‘Let’s go to the p-
ar-k
‘G-oo-d b-oy/ g-ir-
l!’
How you can help at home
•Encourage correct pencil grip, letter
formation and ‘house rule’ sizing.
•When writing, encourage your child to ‘have
a go’ and praise their efforts, e.g. Mamee- but
also show them the correct way to spell a
word so that they learn the correct spelling.
How you can help at home
Useful websiteswww.starfall.comhttp://jollylearning.co.uk/Jolly jingles on Youtubehttp://www.letters-and-sounds.com/ http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/literacy/phonics/play/Downloadable apps on tablets and ipads.